Section A01
Reading Reflection #5
A young man holding a poster after 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone was murdered by Jeffrey Dahmer.
In "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence", author Darrell Y. Hamamoto discusses the nature of murder and how it is - and always will be - a part of human society. He also notes that many of the serial killers and mass murderers he brings up are in someway related to the U.S. involvement in wars, specifically the Vietnam War. Most of these killers do what they do because they were somehow influenced by the socioculture around them, including the U.S. military and the wars that the U.S. fought.
When Hamamoto brings up serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and Warren James Bland, he specifically highlights how these murderers were likely influenced by the Vietnam War. Warren Bland, for example, read a lot on what U.S. soliders have done to Asians during the war and claimed that what he did to a poor, innocent Asian American girl is no different than what the US had done overseas in Vietnam.
What fascinated me the most is how race comes to play for these serial killers. Many of these murderers are white males, who feel a certain way towards Asian Americans. The Vietnam War proved to impact these men, prompting them to commit atrocious acts to their own victims. The fact that these men felt that because they were white, that they had the power to do what they wanted to their Asian American victims is a psychological issue. I also couldn't believe that Konerak Sintahsomphone could have been saved from Jeffrey Dahmer had the police realized there was something terribly wrong with the situation. This also highlights the power that the government has in these kind of situations as well.
Question: Do you think the rise in U.S. serial killings and mass murders is due to U.S. military involvement? How might we combat this rising issue?
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